On September 23, 1964, Premier Zhou held an emergency meeting, and the members who participated in the meeting were all at the level of founding generals, and the importance of this meeting can be imagined, but at this meeting, Zhang Aiping asked Premier Zhou for leave in the middle of the meeting. And why did Premier Zhou stop him and search him?
As early as 1961, a meeting was held in Beidaihe on the issue of the atomic bomb, when the leaders of all sides had differences of opinion on whether to develop the atomic bomb, Marshal Chen Yi was even more excited to make his position clear, trying to build an atomic bomb, while the side opposing Marshal Chen Yi said that there was not enough economic strength to achieve, from the perspective of national defense, the atomic bomb did have the necessity of development, but from an economic point of view, the development of the atomic bomb required a lot of investment, and At that time China's economy still needed to be improved. So both sides have their own positions, and no one can convince anyone.
In fact, there was also one of the most important reasons related to the situation at home and abroad in China at that time, Sino-Soviet relations began to stiffen, the Great Leap Forward and the people's communization movement adopted by the Soviet Union against our country did not conform to the main development path of society, the Soviet Union ignored an important problem, Our country has always taken the socialist road suitable for China's development in accordance with the national conditions, and does not completely copy the theory of Marxism-Leninism, for this reason the Soviet Union stopped importing relevant technologies, including the technological research and development of the atomic bomb, which is undoubtedly worse for China. Because China is in the most difficult stage of economic development, economic development is slow, and the people's lives are not guaranteed, which makes it a difficult choice for China to invest a lot of money.
Whether to decide to develop the atomic bomb for a time became an urgent problem to be solved, at this time Zhang Aiping as deputy chief of general staff served as the investigation of the situation of the atomic industry, only by investigating the good situation can decide whether to continue to develop the atomic bomb, Zhang Aiping did not understand what kind of existence the atomic bomb is before this, before the investigation, Zhang Aiping found Liu Xiyao, who graduated from the Department of Physics, to investigate together, just to find a knowledgeable person is not enough, Zhang Aiping went to ask physicist Zhu Guangya some knowledge of the atomic bomb. Subsequently, after the investigation, Zhang Aiping found that the most critical thing in the development of the atomic bomb was not the financial problem, but the technological breakthrough, and Zhang Aiping also determined the time of the atomic bomb test explosion in the process of understanding the details - 1964.
In fact, regarding the time node of 1964, Liu Xiyao thought that it was more appropriate to set it in 1965, but Zhang Aiping thought that it would not be more beneficial to China to complete the atomic bomb test and detonation task as soon as possible? Therefore, the report document on the atomic bomb scheduled for the 1964 test explosion was handed over to Chairman Mao. In 1962, the development of the atomic bomb was being carried out urgently, when China not only had to eliminate internal troubles, the international situation was not optimistic, India has been deliberately provoking trouble during this period, so the contradictions between China and India have gradually intensified, Western countries have always scorned China's development of atomic bombs, they believe that China can not really build atomic bombs.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and The Ministry of National Defense, under tremendous pressure, finally waited for the good news, the atomic bomb was successfully developed in 1964, but the successful development does not mean that the test explosion can be successful, almost everyone is worried about whether the atomic bomb can be successfully tested as scheduled, Liu Xiyao wants to postpone the reason for a year is this, it is necessary to ensure that 100 percent of the development of the atomic bomb, no one dares what accidents will occur in the process. During the meeting, Zhang Aiping suddenly falsely claimed that there was a diplomatic conference that needed to be attended, and Premier Zhou stopped Zhang Aiping to check his pockets and let Zhang Aiping leave after the inspection was completed. Because the development of the atomic bomb is related to the development of the country, Premier Zhou will not tolerate the slightest mistake during this period, and all relevant personnel must keep it secret before the atomic bomb is really launched.
Fortunately, there was no mistake, on October 16, 1964, China's first atomic bomb was successfully tested, and at this moment, no one questioned China's strength anymore!
References: NetEase News "In 1964, Zhang Aiping suddenly took a leave of absence during a meeting and was stopped by Premier Zhou to search his pockets, what is this?"